GukPT Day 2 14 November 2009

Ok so the first objective was achieved, I made Day 2, in fact I made Day 2 in style being in the top 15 in chips! 82 players have made it through to Day Two from the field of 287. I spent yesterday catching up on household chores but by early afternoon I knew I wanted to be back at the ‘G’, not to play but to stay in the zone, I needed to be there not sat at home thinking about what may or may not happen.

This morning I woke having slept really well, I was feeling good and looking forward to unbagging my chips and getting down to business. As usual I followed my routine and has a leisurely morning before a relaxed drive to the ‘G’. I was strange really as I have never played in any tournament of this size yet I felt ‘at home’, totally comfortable. I suppose I went not expecting too much and that I had made Day 2 was an achievement in itself.

We were called into the card room and I found myself of Table 6, the feature table for The nutz.tv.

Table Six

Seat One - John Hare

Seat Two - Gary Brewer

Seat Three - Richard Trigg

Seat Four - Mark Robinson

Seat Five - David Gerald

Seat Six - Kyriacos Dionysiou

Seat Seven - Ben Vinson

Seat Eight - Michael Greco

I spent the first level fairly quiet apart from a hand on my BB (A,J off suit) where I re-popped Ben Vinson only to face a reload for all my chips so I passed. An hour in I find K,K in my small blind and the button (Jonathon Weekes) raises ‘All-In’. I also go ‘All-In’ to isolate and the Big Blind passes. The board comes down Q,J,8,6,8 and I take down a nice pot to move me to 60,000 against Jonathon’s holding of A,7. A few hands later I find A,K off suit and raise it up and get called by Kyriacos Dionysiou (Jack the Greek). The flop comes Ad,6c,2c and all the chips go in with Jack showing Ac,7c, I have him out kicked but he has the re-draw to the flush. No more clubs arrive however the board pairs for a chop pot. Whilst I was pleased to see no more clubs I am a little disappointed that the board paired as this pot had over 100,000 chips in it and it would have doubled me through.

During this session it is carnage with players crashing out almost every hand with 28 players crashing out in the first 2 hours!
During the rest of the session I manage to maintain my chip stack around the 60,000 mark and make the meal break (3 hours in) at 61,500 against the chip average of 63,600.

After the meal break there are only 43 players remaining from the original 82 players. I really go through a spell of being card dead just as the blinds and antes start to bite, I know I need to get busy and manage to pinch a pot here and there by using position. I do have to be careful as each time I am betting into the large stacks on the table from the button, cut off and one before the cut off.

I find pocket 4,s and raise into an unopened pot and the table folds to the small blind (Ben Vinson) who calls and the big blind folds. The flop comes Ac,3c, As and Ben checks. I fire a bet at it and Ben considers this and then re-raises me All-In. I think about the situation and know he does not have the Ace, Ben has been very aggressive all afternoon and would re-raise with any Ace in his small blind as he would with a pocket pair, especially playing out of position against a small stack such as mine. I know my pair is good however I also know that Ben will have some outs, I make the call knowing he is either straight drawing or more likely flushing. Cards go on their backs and he shows 6,7 clubs (4 to the flush), the turn card seals my fate as the 10c hits. I am drawing to 4 cards on the river (2 Aces or 2 4’s) the river card comes a blank 9 and my GukPT Main Event is over as I finish 42nd.

There is one last event to play that is the £100 one day on Sunday. I am entered for this one as well. I will take my experiences of the Main Event into this tournament and will hold my head up high.

Its strange really that I was sat at the tables for 14 hours playing and I have learnt so much about my game in such a short time. Do I have regrets? Not one, I played the best poker of my life and survived far longer than many other far better players did!

I just want to thank all my mates in AWOP who have railed me throughout the Main Event, you know who you are and your support meant loads to me. A special thanks to Brian Clarke for your support and advice.